"It was very close. From when we managed to get the deal over the line, the club had 72 hours to answer to the charges the FA brought against it.

"If they had remained as owners, I think the club would have been liquidated."

That was the stark admission of Gateshead chairman Neil Pinkerton when asked about the severity of the financial strife that faced the Heed last season.

The expulsion of Bury from the Football League because of their financial troubles left the football world stunned last week. Bolton Wanderers almost suffered a similar fate until Football Ventures completed a takeover of the club at the eleventh hour.

But for Gateshead, and their players and staff, it evoked painful memories of the Ranjan Varghese and Joe Cala era of austerity.

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Varghese completed his takeover of the club last summer but things quickly began to unravel. It became clear that Cala, who had been blocked from takeovers of Morecambe, Portsmouth and Belper Town, was the man in control of the day-to-day running of the club.

Influential figures behind the scenes were let go, the club was placed under a transfer embargo and were running up a huge HMRC tax bill.

Key players were sold against the manager's will, the club were kicked out of the Gateshead International Stadium for unpaid rent and both senior and academy players, as well as club staff, were paid their wages late.

Former Newcastle United defender Mike Williamson is Gateshead's new manager with Ian Watson returning as assistant (Image: Gateshead FC)

Fans were paying for the players' meals as they embarked on hideously long coach trips to the likes of Aldershot (Cala would not sanction an overnight stay, despite it being a 650-mile round trip).

But despite the turmoil off the pitch, players and fans were more united than ever and Gateshead were miraculously still in the hunt to reach the National League play-offs.

"It was about trying to create a unity in the group," Mike Williamson, who was at that point Player-Coach, told Chronicle Live.

"As much as there was turmoil, I thoroughly enjoyed it (his first taste of coaching), as mad as that can sound.

"The people you work with can make all the difference.

"The relationships got stronger - with the fans as well - because they could see what some of the lads were going through."

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"We had all of the excuses in the world and nobody could have blamed us if we used every single one of them because the way we were treated was nothing short of shocking.

"You can either go two ways. You can turn up and just accept it is what it is or as a group of players, as staff, as supporters, you disregard who the owners are and you try and do your best for the shirt and the badge."

Alas, the Tynesiders missed out on the play-offs. But more seriously, the club was in a perilous position off the pitch.

Gateshead fans formed the Gateshead Soul group. A fan-led group whose initial aim was to draw attention to Gateshead's plight to the mainstream media.

Gateshead FC fans (Image: Sunday Sun)

Monthly meetings were held, and were often attended by O'Donnell and club captain Scott Barrow - such was the unity between players and fans.

The pressure told on Cala who placed the club up for sale and when a deal was agreed with former Rochdale owner Chris Dunphy - the Soul's preferred bidder - all seemed well.

Within five days of that agreement, things broke down. Varghese had still not sent over a witnessed signature which allowed Dunphy to enter into a period of exclusivity and he relinquished his interest.

With no credible buyer at the table and the club's debt spiralling, it seemed highly likely that Gateshead in its current guise would cease to exist.

"I don't mind saying it, I walked off at the end of the Barrow game in tears," O'Donnell, who now considers himself a Gateshead fan, added.

"I thought: 'is this it?' It really did feel like it.

"I was sat in the changing room and I was crying. I had five great years here and I didn't know what I would do next season.

"This club is ingrained in me. It stood by me when I was injured, the supporters stood by me and I will never forget it.

"It was a tough summer. I was checking my phone every 20 minutes looking for news. You ask yourself a million questions and I was just praying something good would come of it.

"You look at the state of Bury and you always think they will get saved but it just shows with them getting expelled from the Football League that we could have been that club. We could have had to build a Phoenix club and start from the bottom and build again."

By the start of May, that seemed the only alternative.

Former Gateshead manager Ben Clark (Image: Jeff Bowron)

Manager Ben Clark, assistant manager Ian Watson, press officer Dominic Scurr, general manager Alisha Henry and club therapist Annie Davis were all informed by either text or email that they had been relieved of their duties.

The club had no staff and no players but there was no signs of Varghese selling up.

Gateshead Soul announced plans to form a breakaway club and the prospect of relegation to the Wearside League was largely accepted among the fanbase.

This is when Neil Pinkerton stepped in.

An exiled Gateshead fan based in Plymouth, Pinkerton's love affair with the club started in 1989 when as a seven-year-old he was brought to his first game by his grandfather.

He was 'hooked' at an early age and when his grandfather sadly passed away when Neil was 15, his ashes were scattered on the turf at the Gateshead International Stadium.

Pinkerton was part of the Executive Committee of the Gateshead Soul and had been watching on with horror from afar as his club hurtled towards extinction.

Once Dunphy pulled out of negotiations, Pinkerton was approached to see if he could take over the club.

"With all the protests and stuff going on, in the back of my mind I was always reticent to giving in and creating a phoenix club," Pinkerton told Chronicle Live.

"I thought the amount of work the likes of Graham Wood had done in the past, we had a club in the National League, why are we going to give up on that so easily?

"We would have had to drop down to step six or seven - it is a long, long way back.

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"You look at Darlington and they have found their level now, Chester did the same, FC United of Manchester, they have all found their level. It took Stockport County a long time to get back to the National League.

"So for me the preferred option would always have been to save the club in its current guise."

Pinkerton was part of a five-man consortium that included new vice-chairman Trevor Clark. All members of the consortium have a vested interest in Gateshead and the local area.

The group made their case at an FA hearing and following 'frustrating' negotiations with the 'very persuasive' Cala and although Gateshead were relegated to the National League North, the club was finally in safe hands.

Pinkerton was no longer just a fan, he was the custodian of his beloved football club. Alisha Henry was brought back to the club as General Manager, and popular figures Mike Coulson and Graham Wood also returned. Bernard McWilliams, chair of the Gateshead Soul group, was appointed as Supporter Liaison Officer. Gateshead Soul also have a seat at the table and every member now effectively holds a share in the club.

The first challenge for the new fan-centric regime was to rediscover the club's identity.

"I'm learning every day still," Pinkerton added.

"There's still things you come across that you haven't seen before so it has been an eye-opener.

"When you get behind the scenes and you see what goes into making a football club work, it is a lot more than I envisaged but I am relishing it.

"The club is in a good place but it is just getting the foundations right.

We have got the consortium. If one person drops out it is far easier to bring in someone to replace him. You are not relying on one person.

"We need to increase the fanbase. The footfall at the stadium is massive. The borough of Gateshead is as big as Newcastle.

"It is about getting into the community and providing an asset for the community and giving something back.

"We are trying hard. We have got a good relationship with the council and the college and rebuilding the bridges that had been burned.

"But we want to build a real vibrant club the community can be proud of and having an identity for Gateshead Football Club."

Gateshead FC owners Trevor Clark (left) and Neil Pinkerton

Williamson was brought back to the club as player-manager and was delighted to be working under people who care for the club and the region as much as he, his wife and five children do.

"When I moved to this area I loved it," Williamson said.

"The passion of the people, how welcoming and how warm everyone is up here, I took it straight to my heart.

"I loved playing for Newcastle United. Every time I wore that jersey it was an honour and that was why we came back to the area.

"It was a decision we made as a family and when the opportunity of Gateshead came up, I could feel the passion of the fans.

"Obviously it is on a smaller scale but to me there is no difference. It is the life and soul of people's lives and through turmoil it has only proven to pull everybody closer together.

"The consortium that came in and have taken over really, really care about the club and are in it for the right reasons."

O'Donnell agrees.

"It is enjoyable to come in every day now. I was coming in last year and it was a circus," he added.

"That's all changed now. We have people in charge who care and they are fans themselves. You can relate to them.

"You can concentrate on trying to help the club and from day one when I came here six years ago that is what I have tried to do. We want to try to be successful, we have nothing hanging over our heads, we can rely on being paid, we can rely on the honesty of the owners and you can believe what they can say."

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Off the pitch, Gateshead are now trying to rebuild burned bridges with local businesses, authorities and football clubs.

Moreover, one of Pinkerton's huge objectives is to re-engage with the local area making Gateshead a club the town is proud of again.

Gateshead are in the process of setting up a charity initiative that will benefit local causes. They have also held local football tournaments and are keen to set up a 'Football in the Community' project.

The playing squad, alongside popular mascot 'Rooney the Goat', have also been out at Trinity Square and the Metro Centre engaging with young fans.

"There are two types of people in football," according to Pinkerton.

"Those that are in it for themselves and those who want to do something good. We have no personal gain whatsoever. We are all volunteers, nobody is taking a wage.

"When people see you doing the right things from the outside they know we are good people.

"We are all local people and we all have something to lose at the end of the day. Some guys on the board have local businesses so they have something to lose.

"We are people who want to do right by Gateshead."

The contrast between last season and this season has not gone unnoticed among the support.

"It feels like we are part of something," Ross Black, lifelong Gateshead fan and member of the Gateshead Soul group, told Chronicle Live.

"We are going out there as a club in the community and the matchday experience is better by that alone.

"If you feel like you are part of something when you are not there it is going to be better when you are there.

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"Off the pitch, I can't speak highly enough of the owners. They come to the Nag's (the Grey Nag's Head pub on Gateshead High Street) after the games win or lose.

"We lost 3-0 to Farsley and Neil and Trevor went into the Nag's and spoke to all of the fans.

"They went in and faced up to the pelters so it is good that they are engaging.

"It just seems to be a much more professionally ran club."

On the pitch, Gateshead secured the return of a number of key figures. Ian Watson returned as Williamson's assistant manager and O'Donnell and Barrow headed a list of five players who returned to the club following last season.

Williamson felt it was 'hugely important' to have a core group of players who were not only big characters in the dressing room but understood the fabric of the club. O'Donnell couldn't wait to re-sign.

"It is a club you grow to care about. The people you see on matchday become your family.

"For people like myself from down south and Scott being from Wales, I see those people more than I see my family.

"When you build that siege mentality like we did last season it is something that sticks with you.

"Greg Olley, myself, Scott, Elliot Forbes, Connor Thomson, we have all come back this season and we know it can't get any worse.

"I lost in the play-off final in 2014 and it is something that has lived with me ever since. I have always said to myself I would love to be part of the playing staff that gets this club back in the Football League."

For Williamson, this season has represented his first taste of management.

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The shadow of Cala and Varghese still lingers when it comes to talks with new signings, and their fears about their financial situation.

But with the new hierarchy in place, as well as the exciting brand of football he is trying to implement at Gateshead, Williamson has assembled a young, talented squad that are buying into his philosophy.

The fans are responding, too, and there have already been two home attendances of over 1,000 fans - an all too rare occurrence last season.

Williamson's first nine games in charge have yielded three wins, five draws and one defeat and Gateshead only find themselves outside of the play-off places on goal difference.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed it," Williamson said of his first two months in charge.

"We have managed to construct a great group of lads and I have loved every minute. It is about turning that enjoyment into points now.

"It has been a solid start in terms of performances. I think we have been unlucky with some of the games in terms of the results but I feel like the lads are definitely buying into what we are doing because it is reflected in their performances."

He continued: "The guys are working relentlessly behind the scenes to rebuild the relationships and the feedback from the supporters is fantastic.

"They like the way we are operating, they like the way we are playing football.

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"I am excited for the club as a whole because it deserves to be on the up and it has fantastic potential.

"Now it's about creating a future that everyone is proud of."

That future, now the club is on a solid financial footing, is exciting again. The potential for what Gateshead can become is what is motivating Pinkerton - who has given up his annual leave in Plymouth to devote 18 hours a day towards the betterment of Gateshead.

"I am representing the fans," he said.

"Personally, I always want to do the right thing by Gateshead and be seen to make a difference.

"We want people to be proud of being from Gateshead. When I was younger I was in the minority who supported Gateshead and that makes me more driven now. The potential is massive.

"We want to get back to a position of healthy attendances and being sustainable but that is going to take time."